Each moment is a chance to make peace
The words of Thích Nhất Hạnh, whose work teaches us about the power of mindfulness, compassion, and love.
Dear friends:
This week, the world lost a(nother) voice for compassion, mindfulness, and peace that will never be replaced. Thích Nhất Hạnh died just as January 22, 2022, arrived at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam, his beloved home. The announcement of his death included this message:
We invite our global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts in peace and loving gratitude for all he has offered the world.
A statement from the Dalai Lama noted:
In his peaceful opposition to the Vietnam war, his support for Martin Luther King and most of all his dedication to sharing with others not only how mindfulness and compassion contribute to inner peace, but also how individuals cultivating peace of mind contributes to genuine world peace, Venerable Thích Nhất Hạnh lived a truly meaningful life. I have no doubt the best way we can pay tribute to him is to continue his work to promote peace in the world.
In a week in which the fight for full inclusion in democracy took a body blow, and we witnessed leaders making decisions in full awareness of the tremendous risk of loss of life, only to solidify or expand their power, and acts of violence once again made news, and we learned more devastating information about people in positions of public trust deliberately lying in order to subvert an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power, we need the words and lessons of powerful peacemakers as much as we ever have.
So I will turn the page over to Thích Nhất Hạnh’s own words. They seem simple, perhaps too simple. In their simplicity is their power, and in their power is the deepest, greatest, most magnificent opportunity of our existence:
Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world, to make peace possible for the world, to make happiness possible for the world.”― Teachings on Love
Be well, take good care, and make peace possible.